This article sounds like hogwash to me. I'm on an Equine-Cushings yahoo group, and Eleanor Kellon, DVM, posts on there quite frequently as an advisor. She has always recommended rinsed, soaked, and rinsed again beet pulp as a feed source. This quote seems very fishy to me:

"Dr. Eleanor Kellon, DMV, says that beet pulp is safe; it is washed with water to remove the solvents. However, the water only removes what is on the outside. The soaking process removes the sugar from the outside, but not the chemicals. Toxins are stored in the pulp not the juice."

Interests:Not letting people slander my good name in public on this forum.

Posted 19 November 2007 - 09:28 AM

I feed beet pulp. Not alot but some and if I thought it was bad for them or if they didnt look well, as healthy as horses, I wouldnt feed it.

Ive counceled with my vet on feeding it. His only concern was that they might choke on it. He didnt say anything about any of the issues mentioned in that article and as far as the pesticides remaining in the pulp or any of those other things the author brought up. I think the concern about the pesticides shows that the author is biased about beet pulp because how many other plants have the ability to possibly do the same?

I fed a mare thru the winter with it along with her other feed stuffs and she produced a healthy foal this spring. The foaling went very well.This is my own belief based on what Ive seen but I personally feel that what Im feeding has a significant impact on the birthing process and this birth went very, very well. The placenta was a beautiful color with excellent texture but not so thick that the foal could not break it on his own. The mare had very little bleeding and dropped the afterbirth not long after she stood up with no tearing. She also has mainitained a very good weight thru the summer this year when in past years she has not and shes not getting any younger.

I do thank you for posting the article though and I will ask my vet about what was written the next time I see him and do some more checking on what was written.

Hey Stanislav, would you tell us why you have the opinion you do about this article? Id like to hear what you have to say about it.

Good judgement comes from experience, and alot of that comes from bad judgement-Will Rogers.The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection-Thomas Paine.The Arabian horse. If God made anything more beautiful, he kept it for himself.Everything I write here on ABH is my own opinion, unless stated otherwise.

I don't have time to go into it at length right now...because I need to go work at a veterinarian's office that I slave at... but trying to pin down:" Does my horse feel weak in the hind end?  Are his hooves brittle? Does it seem like his stifles are weak? Does my horse appear to be lacking energy?  What about the coat? Is it dull? Does my horse have loose stools? Are his stools loose or hard?"

These symptoms on beetpulp is simply outrageous. Beetpulp has safely been fed(SOAKED ONLY if it is in a pelleted/flaked/non-grain form) to horses for centuries. Pesticides "may" be a concern it some lower-quality/non-name brand mills, but companies such as triple crown/BS/Purina etc.... have incredible quality control and significant testing a research being done to each and every field and batch in the factory. I recently worked on a case of grain poisoning and it was incredible to me how fast the company was able to pin down which field the bags of grain came out of, which vat and exactly which stores those bags were sold to... that is what serial# and lot# are for...QUALITY CONTROL!!!!

There are so many variable on the symptoms above... vitamins/minerals/conditioning/genetics... I think it is disturbing the LIES that are put on the internet EVERYDAY to spook people.

Beetpulp is not necessary for every horse. But for the hroses that are starting to have digestive or teeth problems, I do feel that it is helpful. What beetpulp does is that is is very high fiber and it is helps to allow the horses to absorb MORE of the nutrients of the grain and other forages. High fiber also helps intestinal health.

Darcy SafinHome of *Stanislav (*Mag x *Statistika)Breeding a few good sporthorses in the quiet corner of Connecticut.

Interests:Not letting people slander my good name in public on this forum.

Posted 19 November 2007 - 10:15 AM

Well thank you Stanislav. My mare might live another day after all. LOL. Hahahahha

Good judgement comes from experience, and alot of that comes from bad judgement-Will Rogers.The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection-Thomas Paine.The Arabian horse. If God made anything more beautiful, he kept it for himself.Everything I write here on ABH is my own opinion, unless stated otherwise.

once treated a horse that had suffered from laminitis for over eight months. The owner had done her best, and called me to make the horse comfortable with an acupressure massage. When I arrived, I found a beautiful horse lying down for more than four hours a day in great pain. Her owner was giving her supplements, totaling more than 80% protein

I agree. Ours have been fed soaked beet pulp along with good quality grass hay, alfalfa pellets and dry bran, for five years or so; the old ones (31, 28 and 27) get a substantial amount, and are in good weight and enjoying life. Young ones don't get as much, but they don't need it (air ferns).

Laurie

QUOTE(SportHorsin @ Nov 19 2007, 08:20 AM)

I tend to think its just BS. I have fed beet pulp for years and our horses are all in great health and condition, with none of the issues listed in the article!

I don't agree with the article either. It will cause a huge mess though I am sure, some people believe anything. I have a friend who has been feeding horses beet pulp for longer than I can remember. She feels the total opposite from the article, that beet pulp actually aids horses in digestion and absorption of supplements and minerals.

Shari

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss

I posted on Equine Cushings, and here was Eleanor Kellon's response to my post:

QUOTE

Beet pulp is toxic = Dynamite. They've been claiming this for YEARSbased on the thoughts of a beet truck driver. Period. No facts. Someexcerpts:

CLAIM: "It is an insoluble fiber, meaning that it does not interactwith the body. It rushes through the intestines taking with itwhatever supplements have been given. Simply put, it cannot bedigested...."

FACT: Beet pulp is lower in insoluble fiber than hay, very high insoluble fiber, highly fermentable in the equine hind gut. You'll findthis soluble fiber in the NFC fraction of the analysis. Nonfermentablefiber is in the ADF fraction, lower in beet pulp than in any hay,including alfalfa.

CLAIM: "...takes four molecules of water for the body to process beetpulpadding water weight, and making the horse appear heavier. Oncebeet pulp is removed from the diet, the horse loses weight quickly,leading the owner to believe that the horse needs the beet pulp."

FACT: Have no idea where the four molecules of water thing came from -maybe from BP being able to absorb up to 4 times its weight in waterbefore being "reconstituted". A horse that loses weight off BP islosing weight because of calorie reduction. There are a few horsesthat don't tolerate BP well, like any other feed ingredient. Horseswith poor populations of fiber fermenting organisms also would notutilize it well. Beyond that, the water content of the intestinalcontents, and the water required for digestion, is most directlyrelated to dry matter intake and crude fiber. BP is between hays(highest) and grains (lowest).

I don't think I have to go into the sugar issue....

CLAIM: "Like many other crops, sugar beets are treated with anextensive array of herbicides to limit weeds and grasses in thefields. The herbicides are absorbed by the beets. Nothing removes thechemicals from the pulp.....Dr. Eleanor Kellon, DMV, says that beetpulp is safe; it is washed with water to remove the solvents. However,the water only removes what is on the outside. The soaking processremoves the sugar from the outside, but not the chemicals. Toxins arestored in the pulp not the juice."

FACT: I'm a VMD, not a DVM. What "solvents"? No solvents are used inthe steps that generate beet pulp. As for pesticides, herbicides etc.,the bulk of these chemicals in use today are water soluble and degradequickly, to avoid problems of build up in the soils and plant/animaltissues. The same steps you use to remove residues from fresh fruitsand vegetables - i.e. washing with water - has already been done withbeet pulp. The beets are washed, shredded then soaked in hot water.The water, which contains the sugar, is removed. Sugar beets are ahuman crop. The levels of agricultural chemicals allowed in the beetsis strictly specified and controlled for each and every chemicalapplied. Over the years I have repeatedly asked the beet pulpdetractors to produce one single shred of evidence that there aretoxic chemicals in BP. They haven't.

As for the other "stories" and claims of hind end weakness, there'snot enough information there to even comment. Beet pulp, like anythingelse, needs to be looked at in the context of the whole diet. I willsay that beet pulp and hay as the sole sources of energy/calories willmore often than not be inadequate for a horse performing significantamounts of regular work, but it has nothing to do with toxicity. It'sa matter of inadequate soluble carbohydrate to keep glycogen levelswhere they need to be.

I think the article is bogus myself and the writer is self promoting. I dont feed it at home here, havent had the need, its cost more here per pound than good hay.

However I have a horse coming home next month and where he is kept they feed beet pulp, he seems to have a strong rearend now lets see if he gets even stronger once he is off the beet pulp and drops weight of course... lol...

hey maybe this is whats wrong with all those a** dragging horses out there... maybe its not the genetics after all..lol

Like many other crops, sugar beets are treated with an extensive array of herbicides to limit weeds and grasses in the fields. The herbicides are absorbed by the beets. Nothing removes the chemicals from the pulp. In addition, growers top the beet plants with a chemical defoliant to kill back the tops before harvest. These chemicals also end up by-product beet pulp.

So I guess that means the sugar WE eat made from the beets is full of chemicals?! If it is a bad as this guy is making out, no could sell sugar to people.

QUOTE

Toxins are stored in the pulp not the juice.

Now just HOW is that possible when it all comes from the same beet??

QUOTE

I once treated a horse that had suffered from laminitis for over eight months. The owner had done her best, and called me to make the horse comfortable with an acupressure massage. When I arrived, I found a beautiful horse lying down for more than four hours a day in great pain. Her owner was giving her supplements, totaling more than 80% protein, plus Phenylbutazone (bute) and Banamine, every day. I asked if the horse had colicked, she replied that she had not. To our surprise when we checked the feed, the second ingredient was beet pulp.

OH yes, undoubtedly the whole problem is this scenario was the beet pulp in the feed--NOT!!

QUOTE

The horse was treated with homeopathics and Dynapro, a probiotic from Dynamite.

Sounds like an "ad" to me.

You will notice the whole site is an "ad" for the holistic practitioner. The only real way to make a "name" for yourself is to come up with some new great "theory."

QUOTE

 Does my horse feel weak in the hind end? Are his hooves brittle? Does it seem like his stifles are weak? Does my horse appear to be lacking energy? What about the coat? Is it dull?

Yes, my horse was all these things when I brought her back from a "trainer" six weeks ago with body score of about "2!" You can't see it in the photos but each vertebra in her croup stuck up. She acted as if the very act of walking was almost more than she could handle. She is now on 6 lbs. 12% cob, 4 lbs. beet pulp, 5 cups sunflower seeds and 7-10 lbs. alfalfa broken into 3 feeding; also free choice grass hay and I am getting ready to cut out the midday feeding. The bottom photos were taken today about 30 minutes after she had been running full out in the pasture for a good 20 minutes with the herd. You decide if the beet pulp is destroying her!

I had a broodmare that couldn't be given more than three pounds of grain per meal or she suffered severe colic and when she nursed a foal she went to skin and bones in a matter of weeks. Rice bran didn't help at all. Adding oil to the grain helped some but would make her too loose plus she didn't like it. Beet pulp did wonders for this mare--kept her healthy and in a decent weight. When she wasn't nursing, we didn't feed it to her and no she didn't suddenly look thinner due to lack of water in the gut!

I started feeding it to my old Eter daughter last spring, she doesn't particularly like it but if I mix her grain in with it she does alright. She is missing 6 teeth, and they are in the unfortunate places where she can't eat hay very well. She does alright with grass, but hay she will chew up and spit out. It's time for her to come in for the winter and I'll put her back on it in a heartbeat. I've seen the chemicals that are put on most hay and grain fields, think I'll take my chances.....

...Yes, my horse was all these things when I brought her back from a "trainer" six weeks ago with body score of about "2!" You can't see it in the photos but each vertebra in her croup stuck up. She acted as if the very act of walking was almost more than she could handle. She is now on 6 lbs. 12% cob, 4 lbs. beet pulp, 5 cups sunflower seeds and 7-10 lbs. alfalfa broken into 3 feeding; also free choice grass hay and I am getting ready to cut out the midday feeding. The bottom photos were taken today about 30 minutes after she had been running full out in the pasture for a good 20 minutes with the herd. You decide if the beet pulp is destroying her!

I had a broodmare that couldn't be given more than three pounds of grain per meal or she suffered severe colic and when she nursed a foal she went to skin and bones in a matter of weeks. Rice bran didn't help at all. Adding oil to the grain helped some but would make her too loose plus she didn't like it. Beet pulp did wonders for this mare--kept her healthy and in a decent weight. When she wasn't nursing, we didn't feed it to her and no she didn't suddenly look thinner due to lack of water in the gut!

Gosh Kirsten, I think I'd have to shoot that "trainer"! I'm sure you let your thoughts be known...and did the best kind of voting...with your feet!

I guess all those distance riders out there that swear by beet pulp (myself included) as an excellent source of long term digestible energy (because it breaks down in the hind gut) do not know what we are doing .... NOT. Put one of my two year olds on it also (to gain some weight before a show), she gained weight .... not in her gut either ... on her hips. And on 32 year old senior citizen who survives on senior feed (main ingredient = beet pulp)!!!!! Oh and did I mention the OTTB who boards at our place .... the beet pulp based senior feed is the only feed that will keep the weight on him without giving him a "pot bellied" appearance!!! That whole internet site loooked like nothing more than an infomercial, sp? to me!!!

THE GOAL: to breed, raise and train world class 100 milersThere is a legend that fallen knights come back as great horses, take care of your horse and they will take care of you.